Property rights take a hit
By Tom DeWeese
web posted October 7, 2002
A long-planned October rally in Collier Country, Florida calling
itself the "Sawgrass Rebellion" to support property rights,
imploded and was cancelled in the face of a determined effort to
deny it the right to meet anywhere. You could almost hear the
cheering in the offices of the Sierra Club, the Nature
Conservancy, the Army Corp of Engineers, the Fish and Wild
Life Service and the National Park Service.
Will the juggernaut of environmental organizations and federal
government agencies that have mounted an attack on the most
fundamental right of an American citizen, the right to own
property, succeed?
If it does, then the Fifth Amendment which asserts and protects
property rights for all Americans, will have been undermined
and, with it, many other rights will have been effectively negated.
The Greens inside and outside government believe that a citizen's
property rights movement will soon grow tired of complaining
about their "Sustainable Development" agenda to restructure
America.
The planned rally was the result of the pain the Greens and their
fellow travelers have inflicted on thousands of Americans.
They're people who lost their property and their jobs. That's
what happens when the government shuts off the water to your
farm or denies grazing rights to your ranch. That's what happens
when sawmills are forced out of business as vast areas of forest
are put off limits to protect a single "endangered" species. That's
what happens when a planned gold mine is denied permission to
operate because it is "close" to a national park. That's what
happens when homeowners discover their property in part of a
"view shed" and are told to become "willing sellers" to their
government.
All across America millions of acres are being put off limits to
any use by Americans. They are being declared national
monuments, heritage sites, buffer zones. This is spelled out in The
Wildlands Project, an environmental plan to deny Americans
access and use of fifty percent of the nation's landmass. It is the
plan, too, behind the "Sustainable Development" agenda
heralded this summer by a United Nations conference in South
Africa.
The Grand Army of Sustainable Development deems those who
would protest to save their homes, their farms, their ranches,
their businesses insignificant. Quietly, relentlessly, they have done
their job well, creating a wall of laws and regulations intended to
anticipate and thwart their every action.
Their army is composed of the bureaucrats who have the power
to issue or deny permits for building and construction, for
repairs, for the color you can paint your door. They control
landscaping. They control public gatherings. They control
sanitation and outdoor lighting. They can decide how many cars
can be parked. Their generals are the politicians who have sold
out their constituents for the campaign funding provided through
a network of Green organizations. It is they who account for why
virtually a third of all federal laws and regulations today are
devoted to "protecting the environment."
For over 200 years we have prospered because we have
operated under a rule of law designed to protect the individual's
right to pursue his own life in the way he chooses. To work, to
play, to invest, to own property and use it in the way that best
suits his needs. This defines citizenship in America.
The government, by the mandate of our Constitution, has the
responsibility to protect these rights and, from the very beginning,
private ownership of the land was granted as a right of the
people. Government's job was to make sure that no one could
unjustly take that land or control how it was used or trespass
over it against the owner's will.
Americans are only a few laws and regulations away from the
day when the advocates of Sustainable Development will be able
to completely ignore our right to free speech and free assembly.
The "Sawgrass Rebellion" will not be held as planned, but its loss
has galvanized more than 700 property rights organizations
around the nation.
It is said that money is the root of all evil, but the assault on
property rights demonstrates the real evil is uncontrolled
government power.
Tom DeWeese is the president of the American Policy Center,
headquartered in Warrenton, VA. The Center maintains an
Internet site at www.americanpolicy.org. (c)Tom DeWeese
Enter Stage Right - http://www.enterstageright.com